Rockets just had two very high profile off seasons. There was a lot of envy last year, and a lot of delighting in the Rockets' misfortune this year. They are an easy target. It will pass.
Yes, most hated online. Circle of friends in life doesn't seem to be concerned with the rockets. Although the Bar did cheer when Lillard hit that three (Live out of state)
The Rockets may be the most hated team in the NBA. Fans for other teams do hate Howard, Harden, and Beverley. However, they would would not be complaining if they could acquire any of those players. I think the Rockets players should just embrace being hated and run with it. Beverley seems to relish being the bad guy. It should be pointed out that even here at Clutchfans some Rockets players get a lot of hate. Sports fandom is a lot about love and hate.
This. It's almost impossible in today's "finesse only" NBA to be rough, but we might as well embrace being the bad guys.
I think its true for most walks of life: If people hate you, its mostly out of jealousy. The term "hater" didn't just come out of nowhere. Its ingrained in hip hop culture to refer to people who are pretty much jealous of your success. As for Harden & Howard. I poised the question last night on Twitter (with a ton of Laker fans mind you) that were ragging on H2 for various reasons, if... A. Harden & Howard were free agents.... would you want your team to pursue them with a max contract (assuming you had the cap space)..... ..... crickets B. Would your team's best player recruit either of H2 or show up to the pitch meeting to help recruit? If that's the case than you can't have the whole "Nobody wants to play with H2"... BS argument. Because it can't be both. You can't recruit a player in free agency, and show up and kiss their a#$ so they join your team, and then say you dont want them, and that people dont want to play with you. Hell.... Kobe freaking Bryant showed up to Dwight's pitch meeting in LA to recruit him. If Kobe Bryant, after everything they went through, pitched Dwight to come back to LA, how in the world can you make the statement that "Nobody wants to play with .... "?????? Stupid argument is stupid. Are the Rockets hated..... sure. But is it because the Rockets are not popular (which outside of Houston I could care less about), or does this have more to do with jealousy, and what people refer to as people being...."haters"???
I'm sure Darth Vader had fun with the evil empire. Embrace the hate. Remember a certain Detroit basketball team?
So I live in Vegas and work at a local hospital. Guy from respiratory therapy knows that I am a die-hard Rockets fan, mocks me for losing Parsons foe nothing and that we will be lucky to finish 8th in the West this year. I told him Morey may not be finished just yet and that our team will be more balanced this year with an even better record. Yeah, we are hated and folks are actually having fun that we missed out of the third superstar this year. We go them exactly where we want.
who cares if we are hated anyways? Hate (in sports) is a sign of respect and fear. don't think it's true anyways.
I can't imagine why the Rockets would be "most hated." It isn't like we pillaged and burned the West in route to the Western Conference Finals.
Don't forget that sports writers and fans hate the Rockets because of their EEEEEEEVIL analytics-based gameplanning and roster-building, which treats basketball like a "science experiment" instead of building teams through good ol' blood and sweat and using the Light Side of the Force. (Nevermind that most NBA teams employ analytics people now, including the beloved Spurs). Maybe the Rockets should embrace villainy. After wins, they could cut heel promos with the network reporters and do stuff like spray painting "nWo" on the NBA's basketballs.
Hated? Nah...probably annoying to other fans. We need to make noise in the playoffs to let the love/hate burn.
I think the most hated team would be the Lakers. I don't think all the Rockets bashing is due to hate, its just human nature to poke fun. We all thought we're going to have a big off season; even Les said so. Then when nobody came, and we shipped out 3 key players for almost nothing. We lost Lin, 1st rounder, 2nd rounder, Asik, Parsons, and we got back Ariza, and 1st rounder. I'd say we lost big in the offseason. Some of you may sugar coat it any way you like.
So true, and even then you have to win those playoff series in a dirty manner, like the Jazz did with Malone always holding the player he screened to get Stockton free. As of right now, people see the Rockets as underachievers with the amount talent they have.
